JOHN CHAPTER 19.

JOHN CHAPTER 19.

            Pilate finds no cause of death in Jesus.                         Verses   1-11.  

            Pilate, intimidated by the Jews delivers Jesus to be crucified.        12-16. 

            Jesus is crucified.                                                                     17-22. 

            The soldiers fulfil the Scriptures in dividing his garments.                 "       23-24. 

            Jesus and his mother.                                                        "       25-27. 

            Telestai.                                                                             "       28-30. 

            The True Pascal Lamb.                                                       "       31-37. 

            The burial of Jesus.                                                            "       38-42.

             

John's account of our Lord's Crucifixion emphasizes:

           

1/   The voluntary character of His sufferings and His death. He willingly accepted the Cup the Father gave him to drink.  John's record of the Crucifixion bids us see him not as the helpless victim, but as the One who was obedient to the Father's command, and as One who acted and moved in the authority of that command.

           

2/   The Crucifixion is presented as the Fulfilment of the Old Testament Scriptures.

           

It is important to note in John's account, this sense of the fulfilment of the Old Testament.  John would have us understand that the events of the Crucifixion were governed by the Old Testament.  Jesus Christ, crucified and raised again is the Goal of the Old Testament, and it is in the light of Jesus Christ that we must interpret the Old Testament.  Christ is the key to unlock the meaning of all the Scriptures. John wants us to understand that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has its deep foundations in the Old Testament, and that the Gospel is the fulfilment and the true interpretation of the Old Testament.

           

3/   The Cross is the Accomplishment of the Work that was given to the Lord to perform (do).

Telestai,  (19:30) almost certainly has reference to the completion of His work.  It has also the meaning "it is fulfilled" and it is associated here with the fulfilment of Scripture.  The sense in this passage is, that now that every Scripture has been fulfilled, the Lord is able to declare His Work is done.  "It is finished."  The Work the Father gave him to do is accomplished, and its performance is bound up with the fulfilment of Scripture.

           

4/   John associates Christ's Death with the Passover. Christ is the true Passover Lamb sacrificed for us. 

           

Those intended to be crucified were usually scourged.  The soldiers treat Jesus as the Jewish king with mockery and brutal beating.  But Pilate goes forth from within the Palace again to the people and brings Jesus forth.  Pilate declares he finds no fault in Jesus, and to the multitude he cries, "Behold the Man."  This has been considered one of the most dramatic moments in John's Gospel.

           

We need not think that Pilate expected to find pity in such a multitude, but he probably hoped to satisfy the Jews in that Jesus had been put to public mockery.  The leaders would feel satisfied that His influence and prestige with the people had been discredited, and that they would accept this as enough, especially when they must have been aware that Pilate did not want to crucify Jesus, and for them to press the point would bring them into disfavour with Pilate.

           

The chief priests and officers (temple police) are determined Jesus must be crucified.  Pilate would throw the responsibility upon them.  "Take ye him yourselves and crucify him."  It is doubtful if Roman rule allowed Jews the power of Capital punishment, and the Jews did not use crucifixion as a form of punishment.  The leaders now make a new charge against Jesus.  They insist He must die because He made himself the Son of God.  This charge had an unexpected effect upon Pilate, it made him the more afraid.  The Governor now fears the Prisoner. He brings Jesus into the Palace for a further interview.   Pilate is afraid.

           

Jesus speaks to Pilate of sin.  His was the sin of weakness.  But Jesus speaks to Pilate also of Power of God, the Power that stood behind him if he did right, or the Power that he offended if he did wrong.   This was the Power that gave him earthly power, to whom he was responsible.  But the greater guilt was that of the priests, the lessor guilt was that of Pilate's, for Pilate's guilt was due to his weakness.  But this could provide no comfort to Pilate, for after this word from Jesus, his conscience would tell him that his weakness was inexcusable.

           

The Jews seeing that Pilate was determined to release Jesus now decide they must force Pilate into a most unenviable position.  They took a risk in doing this as Pilate would feel he was being intimidated and might react in a vicious manner.  But the Jews had a shrewd idea of his weakness, he had come to have a superstitious fear of Jesus and they must play against this his fear of disfavour with the Emperor.

           

They claimed Jesus made himself a king and so was disloyal to the Caesar.  Pilate has no reason to think the Kingship of Jesus interfered with the interests of the Emperor and calls upon them to behold their King.  The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar."  Pilate could see they were determined Jesus must die though, in demanding so, they repudiated themselves.  In the words "We have no king but Caesar" they repudiated their claim to be God's special people and deny the messianic hope.  Their self- repudiation and self-condemnation is complete.

           

Jesus bears His Cross "for himself" R.V. (19:17).  John does not mention their compelling Simon of Cyrene to assist.  That particular outward circumstances was not important to John, but more important to John is the theological truth that the bearing of the cross was a work Jesus did alone and only he could bear it.  The fulfilment of which Isaac was a type (Gen.22).

           

They came to the place of the skull, Greek `kranion', Hebrew `Golgotha', Latin `Calvaria'.  The place has never been identified with any certainty.

           

The Superscription.  Pilate caused it to be written in Hebrew, Roman and Greek (here the Hebrew is Aramaic).  An obvious aim of the superscription was to humiliate the Jews.  They had secured the death of their spiritual ruler.  They had repudiated the religious hopes of Judaism.  In the words of the superscription Pilate had whether consciously or not, suggested that Jesus was King of a spiritual and universal kingdom founded on his death.  John brings in the Kingship of Jesus in a marked way in connection with the Crucifixion.

           

The Four Soldiers.   Four soldiers were appointed to the task of crucifying Jesus.  It was their right to divide the garments of the person crucified.  The four divide among themselves the outer garments - the head-dress the shoes, the girdle and the outer garment.  They cast lots for the seamless robe or inner tunic.  The high priest wore such a tunic, and Philo treats the high priest's tunic as a symbol of the word (Logos).  The Fathers regarded our Lord's seamless robe as a symbol of the unity of the Church.

           

The Women.   There were probably four, Jesus' mother; his mother's sister; Mary, the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene.

           

Blood and Water.   It is the Blood, not bleeding, of Jesus that saves.  The Water may be a symbol of the Holy Spirit.